S19 came home Tuesday night and flew back this morning . There are not that many flights between ATL and ROC. and its not like he does anything different at home than at school (be on the computer), but at least at school, he does do a few more things. D17 has been home since Sunday night and decided she would miss class on Tuesday . She has been a hot mess though in many ways. I cannot wait for her to go back later today. Despite everything It was nice to have the family together, but I am not one of those moms who doesnt want their kids to leave. I speak to them often enough and the small time together is quality time. My favorite was that we went out to trivia Wed night . My biggest concern is that S19 will be so bored over the winter break. I will need to find things for him to do. We are also going to work on driving again. He has had his license since he was 16, but after 3 accidents, he is very skittish about driving. With having to work this summer somewhere, he will need to get back on the horse at some point.
So, Thanksgiving and my motherās 80th BDay party were great. It was great actually seeing D19 live for the first time since September. We werenāt sure that she would make it, since her flight to Newark was delayed. However, she made that flight.
However, she left last night on a redeye, but when she arrived to OāHare, early in the morning, she discovered that her flight to Burlington had been cancelled. She tried to get on a later flight as a standby, but no luck. The rest of the Chicago kids were also stuck. Luckily, as I wrote, she is stuck in Chicago. So she got a flight tomorrow to Albany, and a bus to Middlebury, and sheās spending the night at home.
Unfortunately for me, I am still in LA, and will only go back tomorrow. Fortunately for my wife, sheās flying in tonight, and will get to spend another night with D19. In a way itās great for D19, since we are moving soon, and it gives her another night in one of the homes in which she grew up. Sheāll also spend a bit of time with old friends tonight.
Because of the storm, I expect that there are a large number of students who are coming in only on Monday or later, and there wonāt be penalties for missing classes even on Tuesday.
I hope that other kids are having less difficulty getting back to college.
Hope everybody makes safely back to school and hope the winter holiday travel is safe and smooth too!
DD has gone back. This was a fast week! So she was really hoping her roommateās parents would agree for them to room together next year. Sounds like it is a go as roommate scheduled some apartment tours for them next week.
Applied for another on campus job but those are hard to get. She also applied for a job locally, asking to work over winter break and again in summer. Not sure if theyād take her just for a few weeks at Christmas, but weāll see.
D19 got back, she escaped too much trouble (45 min delay on her flight) as her travel path scooted southeast of all the troubling weather. She said NYU sent a message to all students about what to do /how to handle any flight delays (including ābe niceā!). Iām sure many kids are delayed, good luck to all of those of you whose kids were. Agree with @MWolf that schools are surely unlikely to penalize kids missing classes today and tomorrow.
We got back to the Bay Area almost on time last night but everything was delayed once there (getting to gate, baggage etc) and it took us 2 hours before we left the airport, which was jam packed. Crazy.
Although weād seen her only 6 weeks ago and things were mostly fine, D19 reports now having a much harder time than before. I think there are a lot of moving parts involved (college, campus, course, a certain lecturer (who is not returning), weather, lack of privacy in dorms, homesickness, some depression/anxiety) etc, and we need to try figure out what parts of that are permanent issues and what arenāt. Iām glad sheāll be home in a couple of weeks for a good long winter break and we can try figure it out, and will try get her some sessions with her local therapist too. It may mean transferring colleges or it may just mean getting her an apartment (or a room in one) rather than putting her in a dorm when she moves to NYC for 20/21. A semester without the dread lecturer and improving weather may help too.
I was very relieved that D19 was safe and sound last night when I checked in on her trip back to New York from Boston. She and two friends were taking one of the Chinatown buses back, and they donāt have the greatest safety record. They left at 6:30 p.m. amid wet snow, and at midnight D19 said she was in an Uber to her dorm. Not too bad.
It was a very nice weekend overall. Delicious Thanksgiving meal. D19ās friends were great and it was a treat to see their interactions. They found some common ground with S22, too. They all played ping-pong and Minecraft together, built a gingerbread house and helped my puzzle-loving wife with a puzzle. DW and I have been remarking how much our kidsā relationship has improved lately ā they were never actively antagonistic, but D19 just had no time for or interest in her adoring brother. That has changed a lot in recent years, and I hope it presages them getting to a point of interacting independently beyond family get-togethers when theyāre older.
Yay! for Google Maps location sharing letting us know that D19 got back safely to her dorm despite all the weather issues and such, since she didnāt text or anything to let us know.
(I donāt think Iām complaining, thoughāwe tried to raise our kids to be aggressively independent. Itās just kind of a shock to find out that it actually took, you know?)
D19ās 2nd flight was delayed 4 hours. Add on multiple other delays (a broken tram, missing luggage) and she didnāt get back to her dorm till just before midnight. A long, frustrating day, made worse by the lack of sleep and the fact that she wasnāt really ready to go back in the first place.
Sheās been homesick. Not totally unexpected, sheās a homebody and an introvert and we knew it might take her a while to make good friends. We still think she made the right choice of schools, and sheās doing great academically. I just keep telling her that picking up and starting over in a completely unfamiliar place is a hard, brave thing to do and Iām super-proud of her. And that sheās doing all the right things (joining groups, reaching out to people) and eventually that will pay off.
I know from the parentsā FB group that sheās not the only lonely kid on campus, that itās perfectly normal and eventually (probably) things will fall into place. But boy, the adjustment period is rough. Thankfully sheāll be home again soon.
I didnāt realize how spoiled I was having my D15 go to college in SoCal just a one hour flight away from Phoenix. Having D19 going to college in Michigan has introduced me to the expense and perils of holiday travel in bad weather. Flying D19 home for Thanksgiving was both expensive and stressful. The flight home on Wednesday started with the college shuttle dropping her off 3 hours early at GRR, a small airport with not much going on. Then she flew to OāHare where her flight to Phoenix boarded but then was delayed for 2 hours. At some point they (American) let some passengers get off the plane. But then decided they didnāt know who had left so they made everyone deplane and reboard. But at least she made it home that night. Then on Sunday her return flight was delayed several times and then cancelled. Fortunately Allegiant notified us in time to avoid the 45 mile drive to the Mesa airport. D19 managed to fly back today. She enjoyed the extra day at home but missed all of her classes today, in the last week before finals. She only has 11 more days in the semester and comes home for break on 12/13.
As of now, D19 is still in Newark, waiting for her flight to Burlington, which has been delayed for 6 hoursā¦
My condolences for all the late Ubers, missed/cancelled flights, and general travel stress. I know S19 still sometimes wishes he had gone further afield, but right now Iām glad for the 1-1/2 drive.
No travel woes here. S19 flew out on Sunday morning through Baltimore and got back to his dorm in Maine by 3:00. No delays! I know this wonāt happen every time but Iām glad it was uneventful for his first trip home. Three months is a long time to be away. I think it will be the longest stretch he will have to be away from home. He did great but being able to sleep in his bed and see his extended family and his friends over break was the boost he needed to get through the next two and a half weeks and finals. 19 days until heās home again!
So sorry to hear about all of the travel issues. D19ās flight window was nearly perfect. She flew home on a bluebird day between storms and landed back in Philly during a low wind/rain window. Her eastbound flight was delayed two hours but it turned out all right in the end. The next round of weather roulette will happen in 17 days when she flies home for winter break.
How awful for your D, @MWolf! I hope she is able to get an outbound flight soon.
Glad to hear all of the kids finally made it back to school. D had an easy trip going form Florida to Louisiana - she only had to deal with a temperature drop form 80 degrees to about 60 degrees. 
As Iāve mentioned before se doesnāt love winter weather. I did send her some pictures yesterday to tell her she probably made the right choice echoing Tulane over BC. My mom (about 1/2 hour from BC) got 9 inches of snow Sunday and an old friendās son who is a freshman at BC had a tree fall over and smash through his dorm window! I know she would have loved it there too but there would have been a lot more whining about the temperature!
We had a great time having D home last week. She got to see some high school friends, relax and spend tons of time at the beach. It was an easy goodbye this time as she will be home in 9 days! She lucked out with her schedule this year and her exams are early. She only has two as her other classes are projects and a big essay.
Good luck to all of the kids with finals - think I will go grab some candy and snacks and send exam care packages to D and her friends!
Sorry for all the kids who had trouble getting back to school. S19 had some weird bus experiences, and the greyhound bus on Sunday was delayed almost two hours but nothing major. It was really nice having him back after more than three months. I had D17 come home for Thanksgiving the past two years (even though she gets a short break) but this year we decided it was too much so she went from NY to PA with a friend for the break. They headed back to school on Saturday to avoid the bad weather. I missed her for sure but glad sheāll be home on the 16th.
Thank you all for your commiserations with my daughterās travel woes. At the end, D19ās flight actually left - 6 hour late. Itās lucky, since in my experience, flights that are delayed that long are usually cancelled, because of crew limitation. Luckily, there was a kid on her flight from her college with a car, who had left it parked in Burlington, so they actually made it back that night.
I was flying and landed after she was asleep, but she sent a text when she got to Burlington, and another when she got back to her dorms.
So, in summary, she was in transit for 2.5 days total, and was in LA with us for three days, though she spent Sunday night at home with my wife. I donāt think that she will be home for any break that it shorter than at least a week+ any moreā¦
Well, DD and roommate toured 3 or 4 apartment buildings today and are putting a deposit on one tomorrow. Itās in a big old house and DD says it is so cute inside. Definitely was good to tour because the one they thought was going to be cool wasnāt. I probably wouldnāt have thought to even look at this one.
I did Googlemaps and itās the exact same distance from her major building as her dorm is. It just feels different because itās in a residential area. Iām just glad she will be where she can still walk or bike and not worry about parking every day.
Big stuff for these kids! Sheās excited!
@mwolf sorry about your Dās travel woes, what a mess! On the other hand, my D stayed put in Phoenix. My Thanksgiving break at home seemed really long, she could have come home and it would have been fine. I didnāt know the dining hall would be closed from TG through Sunday morning. They only got TG and Friday off, so I didnāt expect that. Thankfully, one of the roommateās parents drove in and took my D in as one of their own. They stayed at a resort in Scottsdale the whole weekend. Fun! I think next year Iāll have D come home. They had a tornado warning and touch-down in Phoenix, right @Corinthian. The weather was actually quite unusual for Phoenix.
In any case, D will be home in 8 days. I sent her a finals care package and she received it yesterday. Someone elseās box leaked something stinky like tea tree oil all over the box. So next time Iāll put everything in the box inside a plastic bag, and then put it all into the box so nothing gets ruined by someone elseās liquids. I packed a lot of chocolate in there for her to share, so I hope it didnāt alter the taste. I put in two vacuum sealed bags w/ half moon cookies (black and whites) from Trader Joeās, since my D loves those, at least those couldnāt get ruined.
Weāve almost made it to the winter break! Itās hard to believe that at this time last year, my D didnāt even know where she was going to go to college. It seems like this past year just flew by. Hang in there everybody!
Finals week! DD isnāt too worried I donāt think.
Dorm closes Friday at 1 but she stays on an extra week for the traveling childrenās show. She isnāt happy about the upperclassman she has to stay with- not comfortable being around her at all. Fortunately she will have a friend with her. I suggested some other places she can spend some of the down time. Wednesday-Friday they are performing at elementary schools and DD loves to do that so hopefully she will overall enjoy the experience.
She is disappointed to miss the high school Christmas concert next week. Itās tradition for choir alums to come up on stage and join in the Hallelujah Chorus. Her boyfriend is still in the choir so that would have been fun.
She did decide last week to drop her Theatre BA down to a minor because it is so life consuming and sheād rather be at hobby level. I am happy because doing two majors was making her class schedule so tight. And without so many rehearsals she can get a job!
S19 thrilled - he has had solid As all semester in 4 classes, but in that fifth class, the first exam kicked his butt and he has been dragging himself up from a D since then. Today he got a 93 on the final, for a final grade of B. And it is the class he says he has learned the most in (Accounting) and the prof he likes the most - he is taking her again next semester.